Something's Got To Go

     I got sick over last Thanksgiving week. It was meant to happen. I was running on an empty gas tank for a while, and just...crashed. I have not been sleeping nor eating enough to survive the pressure of motherhood. Everyday seemed to be just way too short to take care of the four human beings living with me.
     Lying sick in bed, I decided to let go of something that has been dear to me. Cooking. Cooking everyday. I decided it is okay to feed my family a few frozen meals each week as long as they are free of harmful ingredients.
     Now that Elisha is 6 years old, homeschooling alone is a daunting task. With twins crawling and being introduced different kinds of solid food, I have been spreading myself pretty thin. I had to think over: what can I give up without compromising the quality of our lives? No more cooking EVERYDAY.
     I still cook quite a bit, but now I spend about three half-days to prepare for two-week's meals, usually right after our every-other-week grocery shopping.    

     Here is a list of what I have been doing to streamline and simplify cooking:  
1. Chop, marinate, freeze chicken thighs. I would thaw and use them to make spicy chicken with carrots and potatoes or honey glazed chicken with potatoes.
2. Marinate chicken thighs with soy sauce, garlic, balsamic vinegar, and then freeze them. I would bake/grill them in a toaster oven, and then shred the meat to add to burrito bowls.
3. Fry and freeze bacon, and add them to our Sunday sandwich lunch.
4. Make pork cutlets and freeze them. We eat them either with rice or a big bowl of salad.
5. Make burritos (baked beans, shredded cheese, bacon, egg), and freeze them. These are mostly for CJ's weekday breakfast, but they come in handy as an easy lunch menu for Elisha and me.
6. Cook a big pot of chili. This is solely for CJ's weekday lunch.
7. Bake bread pudding with lots of egg, milk, and honey. This is also for CJ's breakfast. (Yes, somebody eats A LOT!)
8. Bake, slice and freeze 2 bags of sweet potatoes. I add them to breakfast oatmeal, which makes kids gobble up their otherwise plain oatmeal.

     Here is a list of frozen food from Trader Joe's we have been trying and enjoying:
1. Meat lasagna
2. Kalbi (Korean style short ribs)
3. Organic grilled vegetable pizza
4. Tilapia cutlets

     I would love to hear what y'all homeschooling mamas are doing to feed your family well without killing yourselves.

Everyday Is a Miracle    

Wabi Steam Sterilizer and Dryer

     With our oldest, we boiled bottles after each use. However, this time with twins, we are using Wabi Steam Sterilizer and Dryer. After feeding, we wash the nipples & lid parts of Playtex Bottles and put them in the Wabi Sterilizer and Dryer, which will steam them for 15 minutes and then hot-air-dry for 45 minutes. What a time and labor-saver! We use this machine also to sterilize toothbrushes and toys. We love this light-weight, easy-to-use machine and I think it is a brilliant invention.

TAPO

Got Emergency Fund?

The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever he gets. (Proverbs 21:20, LB)

A few years ago, there was a contest on Moody Radio. The rule was to describe life in 6 words or less. The winner's phrase was "Not What I Had In Mind".

Life certainly is not predictable, and the uncertainty of life often entails unexpected expenses.

It is a well-known fact that in America, unexpected medical expenses is the the number one reason for people getting into debt. In today's economy, job loss is competing for the top spot with medical expenses. How about a major car repair that needs to be taken care of immediately?

An emergency fund is an amount of money that you can obtain quickly in case of immediate need such as: an illness, loss of job, or other interruption of income. This money should be set aside in a savings account which pays the highest available interest or in a money market mutual fund that provides immediate access to cash if needed.

During our pre-marital finance workshop at Willow Creek's Good Sense, we decided to save 6 months' living expenses as an emergency fund. However, right now, we are aiming for 12 months' living expenses.

Having an easily accessible fund does not mean losing opportunities to earn interest on the fund. C.J. and I have been using a 7-day CD to keep our emergency fund. It automatically gets renewed every 7 days, provides a relatively high interest, and it is easily accessible.

It is often said that when it rains, it pours. How about building a safety net which not only provides protection but also keeps growing?

TAPO

V8 - Bitter to the Mouth, Better for the Health

I think V8 is the best drink in a can. Do I like how it tastes? No! However, as C.J. and I have realized how good it is to our health, we make ourselves gulp down a few cans of V8 every week. The biggest benefit I have noticed since we started drinking V8 is that my immune system has become stronger, which then has led to a significantly reduced chance of catching a cold and other popular bugs.

V8 is not only difficult to gulp down, but it's not cheap, either. However, I believe spending a few dollars now for preventive healthcare is much better than spending a fortune for future medical problems.

After some experiments, we found that V8 is much easier to drink when it's cold, and also that V8 becomes more desirable when we drink it with some sweets such as cookies or brownies.

TAPO

TV-less in Digital TV Era

One of today's CNN headlines is the dawn of digital TV era. Since we do not own a TV set, that is one less thing to do for us!

When we tell people that we don't have a TV, their usual first response is brief silence and a look of disbelief. We often receive questions like "How do you live without a TV?", "Isn't it too boring without a TV?", "You don't even watch movies at home?", "That's cool!", etc.

We check news and weather through the internet. We own a Benq projector which we can use to watch movies. If we tweak here and there a little bit, we are able to watch TV over the air with an antenna attached to a Samsung ATSC tuner. However, as it turns out to be too much work to setup, most of the time we end up watching movies on my laptop computer.

When we first got married, I worried about my husband, CJ, being completely deprived of TV so suddenly. However, if you ask him now, he will tell you how much he is enjoying a TV-free life. Our after-work hours are used for home-cooked meals, exercise, reading and studying, maintaining home and cars, managing finance, hanging out with each other, and blogging like this!

Sometimes, I wonder what our lives would be like with a TV set sitting in our living room....Come home from work, perch in front of the TV, ramen or pizza for dinner, pile of dirty dishes in the sink, nasty bathroom, dirty clothes piling up, finance charges for late payments and overdrafts, cars in bad condition, escalating health problems, communication breakdown, brain frying, and so on...

Well, I know myself. I'd better keep my life free of TV. Life is, and marriage is much better without a TV set! Alright, we're going out to hit the gym tonight.

TAPO

Chicken, Turkey, and Tilapia

A few weeks ago, I read a research article on the relationship between red meat and cardiovascular disease. Since then, C.J. and I have been trying to reduce red meat consumption and replace it with white meats and fish. This change in our diet has left us with a few challenges.
First of all, white meats tend to be more expensive than red meats. Ground turkey is $0.50 more expensive per pound than ground beef. Chicken breast is $1.00 more expensive than beef roast or rib eye. So, instead of chicken breast, we decided to go for chicken thigh, which is not only cheaper than breast, but also much more tender and jucier. We decided to pay more for replacing ground beef for ground turkey. It's better to spend more now for quality food than to pay a fortune later to treat health problems.

Secondly, I, the master chef of our household, have never cooked turkey dishes before, so coming up with a few easy turkey meal recipes was a learning experience. I had to do my own share of homework and came up with a few turkey recipes: sloppy turkey joe, tureky chili, turkey burger, turkey meatball.

Thirdly, living in the midwest, finding fresh and inexpensive fish with low level of mercury is not an easy task to do. For now, I decided to go for tilapia as I know it has the lowest level of mercury and yet delicious and inexpensive.

TAPO

Gym Membership

C.J. used to have a membership at Bally Fitness before we got married. I used to buy passes for yoga classes at Glenview Park District. After we got married, carried away by millions of things, breathing has been the only exerice we've been doing.

Then, in March, C.J received a promotion offer from Bally Fitness. Since he was a member before, they offered him and his friend/family member a special discounted membership price.
Once we agreed that C.J. use the gym only twice a week, it came out to be $11 per month per person, which is a great deal.

For people like us who go to the gym only 2-3 times a week for 30-45 minutes work-out, it does not make sense to pay a fortune for gym membership.

If you are looking into joining a gym, ask your family or friend to refer you. Also ask for a discount for using the gym during limited hours or only 2-3 times a week.